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I realized something while I was making these Berry Crepes a few weeks ago: Crepes are easier to make than pancakes.

The French know this.

For some reason, most Americans see crepes as some sort of exotic thing that are not makable in the home kitchen, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Crepe batter is actually easier and has less ingredients than pancake batter. Also, crepes cook faster and are easier to judge than pancakes (although you’ll probably mess up one).

I realized all of this because I almost never make crepes and usually opt for pancakes for a weekend brunch, but I still found these easier. If you compare my current favorite pancake recipe with this Berry Crepes recipe, for example, this is hands down easier.

Helpful Equipment

Directions

For crepes: 1) Whisk together ingredients (except melted butter) in a medium bowl. It should be a very thin batter. Let sit for at least 15 minutes. Then stir in melted, but cool, butter.

2) Add a small dab of butter to a large nonstick skillet and swirl around over medium heat until melted.

3) Pour in about 1/3 cup of batter to the pan and immediately swirl the batter around to spread it around the pan in a thin layer. Cook for about 90 seconds on that side.

4) Flip crepe carefully with a thin spatula and cook for another 30-60 seconds on the second side until it's lightly browned.

5) Smear crepe with some of the ricotta filling and top with berry syrup.

For the ricotta filling, stir together ricotta and lemon zest and set aside.

For the syrup, wash berries and combine them with other ingredients in a small pot over medium heat. Stir until the mixture is just starting to bubble. Then kill the heat and let he syrup cool. You don't want the berries to completely break down from over-cooking.

Serve crepes with sauce and sprinkled with powdered sugar.

Berry Crepes

Berry Time

You can put almost anything in or on a crepe, but since berries are in season these days and fresh and cheap, I went that route. Almost any berry will work, but I went with the classic trio: blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries.

The lineup.

You could just toss these on fresh, but I decided to make a very quick syrup with them. Basically, I just tossed the washed berries in a small pot with the other syrup ingredients and cooked them gently for a few minutes until the sugar was dissolved.

In the pot.

The berries will release some of their liquid but should still stay looking like berries. You want to just heat them up but not cook them so much that they break down.

This was after 3-4 minutes of gentle heat. That’s all it takes.

All cooked up.

You can serve this syrup warm or cool. It’s delicious either way.

Crepes are Easy

Okay. Let’s get down to business on these Berry Crepes. The cool thing about crepes is that the batter is way easier to pull together than waffle or pancake batter in my opinion. While a pancake batter needs to be in the sweet spot between thin and thick so the pancake puffs a bit, but doesn’t get too thick, this batter is just thin. After all, the whole point is that you end up with nice thin crepes.

Basic stuff.

Honestly, I just whisk all my ingredients together in a bowl. It’s such a wet batter that the order doesn’t really matter.

Easier than pancakes.

Don’t whisk in the melted butter though until you are ready to cook. The one trick with the crepe batter is that it helps to let it sit for 20-30 minutes before using it so the flour absorbs the liquid. You can make the filling and syrup though while your batter sits.

When you are ready to make a crepe, you just need a large skillet (nonstick works best). Melt some butter in the skillet over medium heat and then pour in about 1/3 cup of batter assuming you have a twelve inch pan.

The pour and swirl.

Once the batter hits the pan, start swirling the pan so the batter spreads out to the edges. The is really the only tricky part of making a crepe. Ideally, the batter will get all the way to the edges of the pan, but you might mess up one or two of them until you get the hang of it.

This was my first crepe of the day and it wasn’t great.

Not perfect…

Cook the crepes quickly for about 90 seconds on the first side and then 30 seconds on the second side. The crepe should be lightly browned but still flexible enough to fold.

My second crepe turned out great!

This one is pretty perfect.

For the filling, I just stirred together some ricotta and lemon zest. Nothing crazy, but it gives some substance to the crepes. The lemon cuts some of the sweetness of the syrup.

A quick filling.

Once your crepe comes out of the pan, give it a schmear of ricotta filling.

A light schmear.

Fold it over itself a few times and serve it with the berry syrup.

Pretty thing.

Looks kind of fancy, but I swear that once you get the hang of it you’ll see that these Berry Crepes are easy to make and really tasty.

Anybody else agree with me? Crepes are easier than pancakes? Am I crazy? Leave a comment!

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10 comments on “Triple Berry Crepes”

I have never tried making crepes, so I don’t know! I would think that they would be hard to flip… do you use an extra big spatula or something??? I also don’t use non-stick pans, so it probably would be harder for me! They look divine! :-)

I’ve made crepes on a couple occasions, and I find them VERY easy to flip. Because they’re so light, they won’t really break if you just flip them with a normal spatula. Just be careful! Also, none of my pans are non-stick, and this works fine for me! Just make sure to always have plenty of butter on the pan! Happy Endeavors!

These look fantastic!! I still remember when you made those crepes a couple of years ago. We’ve been hooked ever since! And I love that they don’t taste “doughy” like pancakes always do…and you can put nutella on them, which automatically makes them a winner. ;-)

There’s a trick I use when making crepes to use as little fat as possible: I dribble some sunflower oil into a small bowl and scrunch up a paper tissue, one end of which I submerge into the oil. Now when you make a crepe, just wipe the pan very lightly with the tissue and put it back into the bowl. They never ever stick when doing it this way, because the thin film of oil is pretty uniform. And you’re using less fat :)

A pan specifically for crepes is easiest. It has very low sides, I don’t know the proper name, we just call it a ‘pancake pan’. The spatula typically used is longer but narrower than a typical spatula. Also, crepes are good with all sorts of fillings. There is a restaurant in Brussels that only serves crepes. One side of the menu is for sweet fillings and the other side for savory fillings–crepes are quite good with salad and different cheeses!

I just posted on crepes this morning. Decided to make them for breakfast and I was amazed at how easy they were! I used Greek yogurt for the filling and it was really. I did have a little trouble flipping them but I figured it out! Great blog!